New Art Exchange presents The Lovers, an exhibition of photographic works by Sunil Gupta and Charan Singh. Bringing together two collections of photographs taken forty years apart, the exhibition depicts LGBTQIA+ couples alongside a slideshow of images and a vitrine of publications featuring Gupta’s work.
Upon entering the pastel-lilac gallery, you are met with intimate portraits - pairs of eyes gazing back at you. Sunil Gupta’s Lovers: Ten Years On (1984/85) consists of black-and-white portraits of couples in their homes. Framed to include personal objects, the photographs reveal as much through surroundings as through expressions - sometimes smiling, sometimes defiant. The poignancy lies in the couples’ presence together, embracing, holding hands, sharing their love with the photographer.
Gupta describes taking these photographs at a time “when people had to survive in the UK under a government that had a very intensely homophobic policy towards them.” Yet, despite this, the images show that “people still were able to form relationships. That this physical formation of communities was important to do the groundwork for gay liberation.”
Beyond these 28 portraits, you encounter Lovers, Revisited (2023/24), co-produced by Gupta and his husband, Charan Singh. Smaller, intimate black-and-white photographs contrast with large, full-colour prints on brightly painted walls. This ‘Wizard of Oz’ effect marks a transformation - black and white gives way to a world bursting with colour. The subjects appear more at ease, more liberated. As Gupta and Singh note, “The pictures are no longer located just within a small geography of West London but are international. Gay is now queer, encompassing a range of ages, genders and sexualities.”
The contrast between private, domestic portraits and public marches highlights the ongoing fight for equality. While The Lovers marks four decades of photographic work, the struggle for true acceptance continues
By revisiting the portrait format - and in some cases even the same individuals, photographed forty years apart - The Lovers invites reflection on the evolving socio-political struggles of the queer community. These changes are further explored through a slideshow documenting early public activism. “Pride marches before corporate sponsors and their logos,” as Gupta describes them.
For over a decade, he photographed these demonstrations, including protests against Clause 28 - a law that prohibited the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ and remained in place until 2000. The contrast between private, domestic portraits and public marches highlights the ongoing fight for equality.
While The Lovers marks four decades of photographic work, the struggle for true acceptance continues. New Art Exchange presents all 28 original photographs together for only the second time. “The timing of this exhibition goes beyond a celebration of the original series milestone to act as a reminder of the past and the ongoing struggle for visibility for LGBTQIA+ communities, particularly in a time when the UK grows less safe for queer people.” The exhibition’s curation is careful and subtle, inviting viewers to repeatedly engage with the images while considering the political and social climate in which they were made.
What will a project like this look like in another forty years? For Charan Singh, the journey will always continue. “It is about illuminating everyday negotiations, the silent defiance, and the bold affirmation of self that queer people embody in a society that oscillates between acceptance and hostility.”
The Lovers captures the challenges faced by the queer community, a community to which both photographers belong. Singh reflects that his work is “informed by my own journey through the very same spaces marked by both struggle as well as resistance.” Yet, through its deeply human approach to representation, the exhibition transcends time, society, law, and politics. In the privileged moments you spend with these photographs, all that remains from them is love.
Head down to New Art Exchange to see The Lovers until Saturday 3 May.
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
